Monday, October 26, 2015

As mentioned below, after my long walk across Spain I was invited to my friends' gorgeous villa, along with Finn, for some sun, pool and summer feasting. Here's me with Dawn Thompson on the boat heading for the old town of Marbella. We did a little walkaround, ate paella, bought some presents for my family back home. Dawn is a producer with Diplomat Films, along with her husband Keith Thompson (Tudors, Vikings et. al.), a wonderful couple I've known for years. We hope to do a project together one of these days!

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Absolutely thrilled to see the election results in Canada. They have finally thrown out American Tea Party Harper (not to mention the embarrassment for a Toronto Mayor, Ford)! Harper's attempt to swing votes with a nasty personal campaign against the charismatic Trudeau and a last-minute Hail Mary pass against the Muslims (pardon the mixed religious metaphor) failed spectacularly as Canadians remembered that kind of thing just isn't ... well ... Canadian.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

I've always liked to sketch and paint and have to wonder why it took me so long to do something about it. (Too busy writing, travelling and child-rearing?) So I've enrolled in a full-time two-year art course in a college around the corner from me with classes in painting, drawing, textiles, metalwork, woodwork, desktop publishing and ceramics. Loving every minute of it! Was welding last week - terrifying but exciting. Here's my first attempt at painting after a few years absence: an acrylic on paper version of my favourite Canadian painter Emily Carr's oil on canvas Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky. (Haven't finished it yet.) Carr lived a lonely life in a cabin in the deep woods of British Columbia, along with her dogs. I read her autobiographical Hundreds and Thousands years ago. She was a great writer as well as painter.

Irish Blogs

Links

About Me

I was born in Ireland and grew up in Toronto, Canada with my seven sisters and two brothers. Left home at seventeen to live in a commune, then headed off across Canada with my pal, Carole, and we hitch-hiked around California for months, then back up to Vancouver(Van as we called it then) and across Canada with two more pals, Linda and Peggy. A year later, headed off to Malaysia and Borneo with Jeunesse Canada Monde/Canada World Youth for a year. Baik-lah! Back home, went to Trinity College at the University of Toronto (posh blokes) while also joining the Canadian Naval Reserve as an Officer Cadet. Trained on the east and west coasts of Canada every summer. Great fun. Then what? Hmm. Started to write books, dodgy personal life (that's personal but let's just say it's been a long time between drinks) started to wander around the world, had a darling daughter, settled down in Ireland, wrote more books.